<i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i>
John Niles suggests that Old English poems often “demand […] attention not only to the possible nuances of meaning of every word, but also to the spaces where no words are written and no story told”. Such spaces, he argues, invite readers into a kind of intellectual “play” that constitutes, in fact,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/35 |
| _version_ | 1827619741815013376 |
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| author | Lisa M. C. Weston |
| author_facet | Lisa M. C. Weston |
| author_sort | Lisa M. C. Weston |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | John Niles suggests that Old English poems often “demand […] attention not only to the possible nuances of meaning of every word, but also to the spaces where no words are written and no story told”. Such spaces, he argues, invite readers into a kind of intellectual “play” that constitutes, in fact, participation, even collaboration, in the creation of meaning. However, what of more literal spaces in texts, not perceptual gaps composed by a poet, but rather material gaps “crafted” by manuscript damage? What more radical, “veered” reading follows if we pay attention to the physical damage, neither to lament the loss nor to restore what might have been there once, but rather to collaborate with its void? The damage to the final folios of the Exeter Book manuscript means that we read a different poem from any “intact” or “original” text we may try to (re)create; we read something that not only responds to, but also reifies the material effects of time and <i>wyrd</i>, the powerful other-than-human force that plays so prominent a role in the poem. This essay seeks to unsettle the text by engaging with both the poem’s extant words and the silent spaces of <i>wyrd</i>’s traces “inscribed” upon the material manuscript. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:35:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aff7002542c7403090403c305e8a4b3f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:35:25Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-aff7002542c7403090403c305e8a4b3f2023-12-01T20:59:32ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872022-03-011123510.3390/h11020035<i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i>Lisa M. C. Weston0Department of English, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740, USAJohn Niles suggests that Old English poems often “demand […] attention not only to the possible nuances of meaning of every word, but also to the spaces where no words are written and no story told”. Such spaces, he argues, invite readers into a kind of intellectual “play” that constitutes, in fact, participation, even collaboration, in the creation of meaning. However, what of more literal spaces in texts, not perceptual gaps composed by a poet, but rather material gaps “crafted” by manuscript damage? What more radical, “veered” reading follows if we pay attention to the physical damage, neither to lament the loss nor to restore what might have been there once, but rather to collaborate with its void? The damage to the final folios of the Exeter Book manuscript means that we read a different poem from any “intact” or “original” text we may try to (re)create; we read something that not only responds to, but also reifies the material effects of time and <i>wyrd</i>, the powerful other-than-human force that plays so prominent a role in the poem. This essay seeks to unsettle the text by engaging with both the poem’s extant words and the silent spaces of <i>wyrd</i>’s traces “inscribed” upon the material manuscript.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/35<i>The Ruin</i>Old English poeticsExeter Book |
| spellingShingle | Lisa M. C. Weston <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> Humanities <i>The Ruin</i> Old English poetics Exeter Book |
| title | <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> |
| title_full | <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> |
| title_fullStr | <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> |
| title_short | <i>Wyrd</i> Poetics: Collapsing Timescapes and Untimely Desires in <i>The Ruin</i> |
| title_sort | i wyrd i poetics collapsing timescapes and untimely desires in i the ruin i |
| topic | <i>The Ruin</i> Old English poetics Exeter Book |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/35 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lisamcweston iwyrdipoeticscollapsingtimescapesanduntimelydesiresinitheruini |